Feelings Change
by The Pen Vs The Sword
Summary: You never know when it's going to strike. One day you just realize that your feelings have changed and you don't know what they will do. Sonic/Amy. One-shot. Valentine's Day gift for everyone.


**A/N:** Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

**Sword:** Ah, a day of love! I hope Pen got me something nice.

**Pen:** Keep dreaming.

**Sword:** What?! Why you-!

Uh, we hope all your romantic endeavors go better than that. Anyway, this story was inspired by "Here in Your Bedroom" by Goldfinger. All Sonic related characters and material belong to Sega. Sword and Pen belong to me, as does the story. Please enjoy.

**Sword:** And after all the work I did for your gift! Agh!

**Feelings Change**

Sonic screeched to a halt. He turned around, scouring the dark, quiet street. There were no lights, no mechanical cranking, no chatter of gunfire. It was empty. Peaceful. Serene. He relaxed, the tension ebbing away from his muscles. He had not been followed.

"Guess ol' Eggy ran out of bots for me to smash," he said, smiling down at the bundle in his arms. Amy did not stir. She was out of it, lying snug and safe in his arms. She breathed lightly into his chest. It tickled him.

He carried her to her house across the street. Leaning down, Sonic retrieved the key from the small potted plant near the front door. He opened the door and carried her to the bedroom down the hall. He deposited her onto her bed and considered finding her some fresh clothes. Amy's traditional red dress was dirty and torn in various places. But he decided that was not important. First thing first, he needed to find the first aid kit.

Sonic found the first aid kit in the bathroom. He also grabbed the phone and came back to the bedroom. Amy was moving a little. That was a good sign. He dialed Tails on the phone and set about bandaging her wounds. As he was wrapping up a bruise on her arm, Tails picked up. "Hello?"

"Hey, bud," Sonic said, checking Amy's side. There was a slash in the fabric, but thankfully no wound. "Ran into some trouble."

"Amy finally caught you?" Tails joked.

"No. She came close, but Eggbutt got in the way." He checked her head. There was no sign of a welt, but he had seen that one robot get a lucky shot in on her head. He bandaged it just to be safe. "I already took care of his toys, but Amy's out cold. I'm gonna stay here a while and make sure she's alright."

"Okay," Tails yawned. "Make sure you take care of yourself too."

"C'mon. They couldn't even touch me!" Sonic said, boasting. Then he discovered a scrape on his knee. It stung when he touched it.

"Yeah, sure," Tails said. Sonic could almost see him rolling his eyes. "Good night."

"Night," Sonic said. He tended to the rest of Amy's injuries. When he was finished, he covered her with the heavy red blanket on the bed. Then he turned to his own leg. The process was more slow-going since Sonic felt every single ounce of pain when he dabbed alcohol on his knee. He hissed, rubbing away the grime and dirt as gently as possible.

Amy murmured unintelligibly. She gravitated closer to him, snuggling her face into his side. Sonic felt nervous and awkward. Had it suddenly become cold in the room? He covered Amy a little more, then dressed his knee. He stretched his leg out and pulled it back in. It was a little sore, but he figured it was good enough for running. As long as he didn't put too much weight on it, he would be fine.

He looked down at Amy. She was breathing normally. She seemed to be doing better, but he thought it might be in her best interest to stick around a while longer. Her condition might change in a moment's notice.

A deep whine like a pet begging for food overshadowed Amy's steady, soft breathing. Sonic grabbed his stomach and patted it. He was starving. Maybe Amy had some snacks he could munch on. Yet when he tried to roll out of the bed, he found himself held back. He looked down and saw that Amy had wrapped her arms around his waist, almost as if she subconsciously was telling him not to leave her again.

He tried to wiggle out of her grasp. The more he fought, the tighter her grip was until she was clenching him like a teddy bear. He attempted to shimmy out of her arms, which proved fruitless. Trying to pry apart her fingers was harder than trying to open a bear trap. He was stuck.

Sonic grunted, abandoning his hopes of late-night noshing. If he did not know any better, he would have pinned this as one of Amy's stunts. It had her mark written all over it. The entire set-up was one Sonic never thought he would be a part of. Sure, he had sat on her bed a time or two when she was sick or when he brought her home, but not like he was now. At least she was out cold at the moment. Else he would have had to deal with her ecstasy over having him in her room, much less being together in her bed. He shuddered at the thought of a hyper Amy, squeezing him to death.

He looked down at her. Half her face was hidden in his fur, her bangs were ruffled all over, and she was completely oblivious to all around her. She was calm. It was the real Amy. Not the obsessed girl who greeted Sonic by choking the life out of him. No, at the moment, she was the girl that everyone else knew. The girl that, much of the time, he wished he knew too.

Tails and Cream called her zealous. Then again, they were not on the receiving end of her hugs. They were not compulsively followed the world round by her. Around them, she was normal. Sonic wished she was like that around him. Yet he knew she loved him too much to be that way.

_No, not love,_ Sonic thought, shaking his head. Infatuation. Hero worship. That is what her emotions amounted to. What they always had been. She would grow out of those feelings eventually.

But would she? He looked down at her again. Amy had been following him for years now. He had had other fans before. Yet none came after him for that long. They would give up after a month or two. A year tops. Not Amy. If anything, her antics had only increased in intensity and her "love" had grown stronger. No one else could track him down like she could and no one else seemed to care as much as her.

Sonic dug his fingers in between hers and tried to separate her hands. He failed. Crossing his arms, he gazed up at the white ceiling. It was for reasons like this that he ran away all the time. She could be so clingy. Whenever he sped off, she would chase him, calling out his name to bring him back.

Now that he thought about it, she always sounded mournful when she yelled his name. As if she thought she would never she him again. Of course that was not true. She would see him again. He always came back around to visit. She knew that.

Amy whimpered. Sonic wondered if he had been thinking aloud. She squeezed his waist tighter. He considered waking her up so he could go home, but she whined again. Then her eyes clenched and she frowned. Had she sensed his desire to leave?

Another thought struck Sonic. Was Amy like that every time he left? _She knows I'll be back._ However, looking at her distressed face caused him to put himself in her shoes. Seeing someone you "love" run away, all because of you. Leaving with barely a "See ya." Sonic realized why it would be upsetting. To feel so low and the person running away from you. Because of you. That was the equivalent of saying, "I can't stand to be around you." Maybe even "I hate you."

He had a realization. Maybe that was why Amy hugged him so tight. Surely he had done the same for Tails and other friends he had not seen in a long time. Or for those nearly destroyed by Eggman. During the latter cases, he had feared he lost the person for good. Did Amy think similarly each time he left her?

_It's not the same._ He was Sonic. He had lived through plenty of adventures. Some more harrowing, but he survived nonetheless. Yes, there had been close calls, but- He looked down at Amy. He found himself stroking her hair. She had calmed down, laying against him. Knowing Amy, she would hear about all his adventures, great and small. She must have been frightened for him. The emotional toll of that fear combined with never seeing the one you "love" again, and you thought that the person could not stand you up to and including the end? Something like that would be overwhelming to Sonic.

However, Amy experienced that day in and day out by him constantly running away from her. No wonder she choked him to death whenever they reunited. She wanted to savor the moment, to check that he was real. To allay her worries and just be with him. It was little surprise that over time her actions would intensify. Why she would follow him all over the globe, trying to help in any way possible. Her love was strong.

As Sonic dwelled on her qualities and their past adventures, he retracted his earlier desire. He did not want a normal friend out of Amy. He had normal friends. Amy was not a fan. She was special to him. His damsel in distress to save on occasion, even though she packed a wallop via her hammer. To be perfectly honest, he loved the way she was and did not want her to change.

_Love?_ Sonic slowed down- something in itself uncommon for the speedy hero. He loved Amy like she was? He meant liked, right? Or was there something else? Did his love for her quirks and personality translate to something more? He hated to deal with that issue. Like Tails' mechanical explanations or anything else he could not understand, he often shoved it to the back of his mind to be forgotten about.

Yet love was more stubborn than knowing how the fuel combusted at the right temperature in the Tornado to give it an extra kick at times. He had thought about Amy's love before and their relationship before. He often pushed it aside, but now he questioned himself. Were there harbored feelings within his own heart? Had his epiphany planted desires within or merely been a catalyst for a dormant seed that now sprouted to fruition?

Beads of sweat dripped down Sonic's face. He was incredibly nervous, but he could not explain why. When had these feelings come upon him? He loved Amy like a friend, right? There was that word again. Amy was his friend at most. Since when had that changed? When over the years of thrilling adventures had that changed? It was not possible.

Amy murmured. Sonic stopped stroking her hair and scooted as far away from her as she would allow. His opinion of her _had_ changed. There was no denying it. Somehow, that view as a friend had evolved into more. He could not pinpoint any specific time. It may have happened years ago. But it had happened nonetheless.

_It doesn't mean anything_, Sonic reasoned with himself. He may have loved how she was- _Liked! Liked!_- yet that did meant he loved her. Not like she loved him.

He cared about her. That was all. He cared about her as any friend would. He loved parts of her, but loving parts of someone and caring about that person did not immediately mean he loved that person. After all, Amy had her flaws like everyone else.

Did those flaws matter if everyone else had them? _Yes, of course,_ Sonic thought as Amy stole his attention once more. She sighed wistfully. He found himself captivated by her soft features: that delicate skin, those long eyelashes that hinted at her shimmering eyes, and that inviting mouth.

_After all, her flaws are enough to drive me away when she…She…_ When she what? Sonic's mind blanked. He racked his head. He had been commenting on Amy's annoyances only minutes ago! How could he forget already? He was entranced by her face. All that emerged from his brain-rattling were Amy's good qualities. _Brave, kind, amazing, funny. No, no, no!_ Yet the list went on and on. A floodgate had been released and Sonic was neither strong nor fast enough to close it.

When he finally ended naming every one of Amy's perks- or rather ran out of perks to name- Sonic shivered. All his thoughts were leading to a final conclusion. An answer that he was apprehensive to admit. A revelation that he wanted to hope was not true, but could not. To be honest, he found himself hoping it was true. He had no more excuses and could deny the result no longer.

_I love Amy._

Sonic did not have to question why. He had already explained to himself why. The how, when, and where were unknown, but they did not matter. The change could have crept up as easily as him seeing Amy as a friend. A subtle consequence of simply being around her. Whether her love had worn off onto Sonic or was home-grown, he did not care. All he knew was the simple fact of the matter.

He was treading unfamiliar waters. And if there was one thing Sonic hated, it was any kind of water. Yet he did not feel like he was drowning in a mysterious ocean teeming with concepts he did not understand. Rather he was lighter, liberated in a fashion. He should be running, trying to escape these waters and all who inhabited them. Instead, he was skimming over the ocean, high-fiving everyone he met along the way. He whooped, hollered, and jumped for joy when possible.

Then he was back in Amy's room. The sensation was there, but muted now that the initial charge was through. Somehow, Sonic knew it would be there from now on, as long as he loved Amy. So he did not see it ending anytime soon. He figured he may as well enjoy it.

How would it affect his relationship with Amy? Sonic was concerned about that. He thought it would be for the better, but that avenue's future was as strange and obscure as love.

It was late. Too late to dwell on these ideas anymore. Sonic decided to put that quandary off until tomorrow. For now, he relaxed in Amy's hold, not even realizing she had long ago loosened her grip. Sonic wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding her close to him. "Good night, Ames," he whispered. The tiniest of smiles graced her face as he closed his eyes.

**A/N:** Hm, that was shorter than we thought it would be. Why does nothing ever come out to a length we can predict?

**Sword:** You better get me some chocolate! And roses!

Hope you all enjoyed this. Let us know what you thought.

**Pen:** Do you have any idea how expensive those are on Valentine's Day? I am no fool! Ouch!

**Sword:** You are not to get my anything! En garde!


End file.
